- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
They are:
- "Little Swimmers and Fly Tying,” Briggs Hall, nominated in the category, "Hidden Treasures"
- “Medical Entomology,” Briggs Hall, listed in the category, "Academic Exhibits" and
- "Real Insects and Mimics,"Bohart Museum of Entomology, listed as a "Family Friendly" Exhibit.
During the morning of Picnic Day, the Picnic Day Exhibits Team will distribute a Zero-Waste table tent to the location. A table tent is simply a small, foldable sign (only 8.5"x5.5") created by the Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Department to recognize your Exhibit's commitment to sustainability.
"Little Swimmers and Fly Tying" includes an aquatic display by the Sharon Lawler lab and fly-tying by the Fly Fishers of Davis. "Medical Entomology" features the "Dr. Death" booth by forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey; and mosquito exhibits by the Shirley Luckhart lab and the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito Control District. The "Real Insects and Mimics" display will focus on flies mimicking bees.
An online voting poll, available from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, April 16 only, will determine the winners. Visitors may vote at https://orgsync.com/51524/forms/194037
Winning exhibits will be featured on social media pages such as the Picnic Day website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat accounts after Picnic Day. They also will be featured next year, in preparation for Picnic Day 2017.
Last year Picnic Day judges selected the entomology booth, "Bug Doctor (Doctor Is In)" with "the most community-oriented award" in keeping with the theme "Heart of the Community." Michael Parrella, then professor and chair of the department, and graduate student Ralph Washington Jr. of the Steve Nadler and Brian Johnson labs, staffed the booth, showing various insects to the crowd and answering their questions.
This year's theme is “Cultivating our Authenticity.” The Briggs Hall open house will be from 9:30 to 4 p.m., and the Bohart Museum open house from 10 to 3 p.m.
"To recognize exhibits that highlight our authenticity and showcase the vast diversity of UC Davis, the Picnic Day Exhibits Team invites all Picnic Day attendees to vote for their favorite exhibits under five different categories,” said Tammy Ng, exhibits director for Picnic Day.
Briggs Hall will be the site of a pollination pavillion, maggot art, cockroach races, fly-tying, face-painting, honey tasting, and a bee observation hive, and displays about ants, mosquitoes, aquatic insects and forest insects. The Bug Doctor booth ("The Doctor Is in") will be staffed by faculty and graduate students, while UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey, aka "The Fly Man of Alcatraz," will man the Dr. Death table. The Entomology Graduate Students' Association will be selling insect-themed t-shirts.
Also at Briggs, the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) will give away lady beetles, aka ladybugs, to kids to take home to their gardens. UC IPM also will provide advice on how to manage home and garden pests with environmentally sound methods.
At the Bohart Museum, in addition to the "real insects as mimics," theme, visitors can hold and photograph the critters in the live "petting zoo," including Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, and rose-haired tarantulas. The gift shop, featuring t-shirts, books, posters, insect collecting equipment, will be open.
